


Cupid

by magickalmolly



Category: High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 09:12:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9228308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magickalmolly/pseuds/magickalmolly
Summary: Ryan's certainly had his share of Valentines on Valentine's Day before, but this year is special, and he's determined to make the most of it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written February 13, 2008.

Ryan shifts a couple of things in his locker, trying unsuccessfully to make more room for the package he's been hiding in there all day. At this rate, the delicate foiled wrapping is going to get ripped, and Ryan sighs a little at the thought.

Of course, Ryan realizes the recipient of this particular gift probably won't notice that the paper is hand-made, or that the lovely ribbon tied around it is real silk. But Ryan doesn't care. He still wants everything to be perfect. 

Ryan's certainly had his share of Valentines on Valentine's Day before, but this year is special, and he's determined to make the most of it. Even if his efforts go unnoticed. 

Of course, Ryan is pretty sure he'll get a nice thank you just the same. He blushes a little at the thought of that thank you coming with a hug. Or maybe a kiss, all slow and soft...

Rearranging his things for the fifth time, Ryan pauses when he hears a large pair of sneaker-clad feet running up the hall. He smiles at the familiar sound and gives up trying to make his locker neat. Cramming his chemistry book on top of his very full dance bag, the gift is precariously balanced over the pile. It will do.

The sound grows closer, right until it reaches Ryan's locker. There the feet stop, just on the other side of the open door. 

Giggling to himself, Ryan slowly swings the door closed. He isn't at all surprised to find a certain curly-haired jock smiling down at him. 

"Yo, Evans," Chad says in way of greeting. He presses one hand to the front of Ryan's locker and crosses his ankles, purposefully leaning closer. Right into Ryan's personal space. 

Ryan only smirks a little from under the brim of his hat, and his eyes track down to Chad's bright red t-shirt. One that has obviously been worn for the holiday.

"'Mr. Right'?" Ryan asks, reading the slogan imprinted across the other boy's chest.

"At your service," Chad replies with a wide grin. 

Ryan laughs despite himself, and shakes his head. "You must've had fun with that today. All the cheerleaders line up to see if it's true?"

"Oh..." And Ryan notes with satisfaction that Chad's cheeks turn a shade darker. "Maybe. Cindy gave me a big box of candy hearts, and Tia and Sheryl both baked me cookies." Chad chuckles at that. "They're not speaking to each other now."

Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, Ryan turns back to his locker, giving the door a tug. But Chad is still leaning against it, which makes opening it impossible.

"Hey. Um, speaking of presents..." Ryan glances back over his shoulder when Chad trails off, and he notices for the first time that the boy is hiding something behind his back.

Doing his best to keep his smile in check, Ryan turns, one perfectly groomed eyebrow rising into an inquisitive arch as he does.

"Yes...?"

Chad huffs a breath, knowing Ryan is toying with him. But he straightens, then glances up and down the hallway to make sure it's empty. When he sees they're alone, Chad reveals a gift bag, and eagerly shoves it into Ryan's hands.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Chad's face is flushed, and Ryan can feel his own face trying its best to match. He takes the present with a shy grin.

"Thanks, Chad. Can I...?" Ryan gestures towards the bag, not sure if he is suppose to open it now. Or, knowing Chad, if it's safe to open now. Who knows if Chad decided to give him something embarrassing...like edible underwear!

"What? Oh, yeah...! Go ahead," Chad sticks his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans, and bounces a little on the balls of his feet. 

Pushing aside the sparkly shredded bag filler, Ryan reaches in and pulls out what looks to be a small stuffed lion. It's wearing a red satin jacket, the familiar Wildcats logo printed on the back.

Ryan's smile widens, and Chad beams. 

"A Wildcat? Aww, he's adorable." Ryan leans a little closer to Chad, adding in a whisper. "Kinda like the guy who gave him to me."

"Yeah, well..." Chad shrugs, shyly ducking his head. 

But he pops it up again a moment later, exclaiming, "Oh, wait!"

Unceremoniously taking the bag from Ryan, Chad digs through the shiny shredded filler (scattering a good deal of it onto the floor) until he finds what he is looking for. A card, which he proudly presents to Ryan.

"Can't have a Valentine's Day present without a Valentine's Day card, right?" 

Ryan has actually never heard this before, but Chad is smiling at him so sweetly that he nods his agreement before he can think to question the validity of the statement.

Ryan takes the card and runs his hand over the front, suppressing a giggle. It's obvious that Chad made the card himself. Fashioned from construction paper, the Valentine is actually decorated with glitter and a paper doily, just like the cards they use to make every year in elementary school. 

Opening the card, Ryan reads the sentiment, scrawled in Chad's now-familiar handwriting:

_Happy Valentine's Day!  
To my favorite Wildcat  
From your favorite Wildcat_

_♥_

"Your favorite Wildcat, huh?" Ryan smirks a little, giving Chad a playfully questioning look. 

Chad rolls his eyes and bumps Ryan's shoulder with his own. "Shut up." 

"No, it's good, Chad," Ryan's smile softens. "It's perfect." Ryan presses the card to his chest, touched that the other boy actually went to the trouble to make him something. 

"Thank you."

Chad shrugs again, but his smile is blushing and bright.

"So...Do I get a present, too?"

Had anyone else asked, Ryan would've scoffed. But Chad is, well, _Chad_ , and he's the only person Ryan knows who can ask for a present without sounding like a jerk. 

Ryan's decided he's just annoyingly charming that way. Or maybe it's charmingly annoying. He hasn't figured out which yet.

Either way, Ryan is learning that he has a thing for annoyingly charming boys. Charmingly annoying ones, too.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Ryan shakes his head, and for a moment Chad's face falls. But Ryan laughs, melodious and light, and Chad's expression shifts from disappointment to confusion. It's completely adorable, and Ryan has to restrain himself from cupping the other boy's face and kissing him right there. 

Adorably confused boys are also a weakness of Ryan's, apparently.

Setting his stuffed Wildcat and card back into their gift bag, Ryan places the bag carefully on the floor before opening his locker, retrieving the wrapped package from inside.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Chad." 

Chad's eyes light up at the sight of the gift. "Wow, thanks, dude."

As expected, Chad only gives the fancy wrapping a cursory glance before it is ripped off, and he lets it fall to the ground. Inside are imported chocolate truffles, and Chad brings the gold box to his nose, inhaling deeply.

"Oh, man. These smell _good_." Chad is already opening the lid as he says this. He pauses to inhale again, then pops one of the hand-dipped truffles into his mouth, whole. 

Ryan giggles under his breath, thinking Chad looks like a curly-haired chipmunk. 

Hearing Ryan's laughter seems to bring Chad back from his truffle-induced haze, and he sheepishly offers the open box to Ryan, his mouth too full to speak. But Ryan only shakes his head with a smile. 

Eating chocolates doesn't keep him in his skinny jeans, after all. 

Swallowing after a long moment, Chad grins, that warm, happy smile that makes Ryan's knees turn a little trembly. Ryan finds he's grinning back, and he has to consciously stop himself from making moony eyes.

"These are _awesome_ ," Chad gushes. But he catches Ryan's expression before the other boy masks it, and Chad can't resist letting his smile turn a little smirky. 

"They're almost as good as those cookies I got earlier." 

Ryan scoffs at this, not believing the other boy. As if cookies from some cheerleader could be better than truffles! He presses his fists to his slim hips, looking frighteningly like his sister ramping up for a tirade.

"I'll have you know that those are imported from Switzerland. The ganache is made with—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Dude." Chad holds up a hand, quickly stopping the other boy. 

"Relax, Wildcat; I'm just kidding." Grinning, Chad reaches out and taps the brim of Ryan's fedora, then the tip of his nose, which makes color flush Ryan's cheeks.

"These are way better than any dumb cookies." Chad's smile softens in apology, and his head ducks a little. "They're the best Valentine's Day present I ever got."

Ryan has the grace to look embarrassed at his outburst. But he brushes the emotion aside, giving Chad a winsome smile instead. "I'm glad you like them. Only the best for my favorite Wildcat, after all."

Chad now looks embarrassed, but happily so, and the two boys spend a long minute grinning shyly at one another.

"So, um. This is... _it_. Right?" Chad gestures towards the box of chocolates, suddenly unwilling to meet Ryan's gaze. But Ryan doesn't understand what he's being asked, and after a long moment's silence, Chad continues:

"This is all you're giving me. For Valentine's Day. Not that this isn't great! Because it is. Great, I mean. It's just that. Well. I wasn't sure if you. If you, like. Um."

Chad pushes another truffle into his mouth to have an excuse to stop talking.

But Ryan's more confused than he was a minute ago, and he's not ready to let the conversation end there. "If I what?"

Pausing mid-chew, Chad mumbles around his mouthful of truffle. "...what?"

"What... _what_?" Sighing, Ryan crosses his arms over his slim chest. "Chad, what are you talking about?"

Chad swallows, blushing. "Oh, um. Nothing."

"Uh...huh." Ryan raises an eyebrow, his blue eyes unblinking as he pins Chad with his gaze.

Swallowing again, Chad shrinks back a little. "Dude, don't look at me like that." 

But Ryan is content to wait for an explanation, and he doesn't budge.

Chad lasts about three seconds before he can't take it any longer. "All right! God, stop giving me that Ice Princess stare." Chad pulls a face, pretending to shiver. 

He's stalling, and one quick glance at Ryan lets him know the other boy can see right through him. Chad sighs in resignation. "I don't know! I mean, you're a little...um. Flamboyant? And uh, I kinda thought you'd..." 

Chad pauses, chewing his lower lip as he tries to carefully pick his words. "I thought you'd do something more, y'know... _showy_." 

"Showy?"

Unable to tell if Ryan's annoyed or not, Chad cringes a little, but he forces himself to finish his thought, the words coming out in a rush. "Yeah. Like...dress up as Cupid and tap-dance down the hallway...?" 

Ryan is silent when Chad finishes. So silent that Chad feels he should apologize, even though he isn't sure why. 

But then Ryan throws his head back and laughs, and Chad sighs deeply, relief running through him.

"Oh my god, Chad. You're such a dork. Tap dance in the hallway?" Ryan laughs again.

Chad laughs when Ryan does, nodding enthusiastically. "I know! That'd be totally crazy! But like..." 

And Chad has enough intelligence not to finish his sentence.

"Nevermind, right?" Ryan grins, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

"Yeah, right." Chad's smile mirrors Ryan's, but then he glances at the colorful watches strapped to his forearm, pulling a face when he sees what time it is.

"Dude, I gotta go to practice. But..." and Chad flashes Ryan a dazzling grin. "See you tonight?"

Ryan's knees threaten to go a little trembly on him again, but he finds he doesn't mind too much just now.

"Yeah, I'll see you."

Ryan watches the other boy go with a sigh, appreciating the sight of him dashing up the hallway. But he knows there isn't time for that now. He has much more important things to do

Turning back to his locker once he's sure Chad is gone, Ryan quickly retrieves his dance bag. 

He kneels on the floor and pulls open the zipper of the bag to verify its contents, making sure he hasn't forgotten anything. 

Sparkly toga? Check. Feathery wings? Check. Tap shoes? Check. And of course the pièce de résistance: bow and arrow? Check. 

Fabulous. 

Humming "My Funny Valentine" with a smile, Ryan zips the bag closed once more, then carefully stows his Valentine's Day gift back into his locker, closing it tight. 

He had to give Chad credit. The cute jock was pretty smart. Smart enough to have _almost_ ruined his surprise. 

Almost. But not quite.

Shouldering his dance bag, Ryan grins with a shake of his head as he begins to walk. Tap dance in the hallway? Ridiculous. 

Everyone knows the acoustics are so much better in the gym.

~fin~


End file.
